P U R A C H I N A: platinum
by Ryou Shirogane
Summary: A collection of one-shots focusing on Ryou Shirogane. Most of these are family-oriented stories that take place before the accident. R&R is appreciated.
1. memory 01 neverending questions

**P U R A C H I N A  
**_- p l a t i n u m -_

_This is a collection of one-shots focusing on Ryou Shirogane. Most of the stories take place before the accident. These have mostly been cross-posted from a roleplaying game which I originally wrote them for. All references to fan characters have been removed and edited out with the exceptions of family members. Credit is due to both Satouberri and Saica, as well as everyone else who participated in the game with me. If you have any ideas for future one-shots, just holler at me. I love writing Ryou and his parents. Absolute love._

Notes:

- From here on out, Professor Shirogane will be referred to as Jishou Shirogane. The character "ji" means "self" and the character "shou" means "victory".  
- From here on out, Mrs. Shirogane will be referred to as Elizabeth Shirogane. It's shortened often to Liz.  
- The honorifics -hakase and -kyoju mean "doctor" (one who has earned a doctorate in some field) and "professor".

These are not official names. They never had official names. These are simply the names we used in the game and I don't have the heart to change them. If you wish to adopt these same names, feel free to do so, just credit us.

* * *

memory 01.

It was a lazy June afternoon - hot, muggy, and unpleasant. Even the air conditioning seemed to be doing little good for the maple-haired adult as he busied himself with tweaking details for a project that he and one of his highschool friends were working on together. Today, however, it was just him.

So heavy and sluggish was time upon the room, that he may have been watched for a handful of minutes before actually realizing it. Turning his head, Jishou Shirogane could see that two bright aquamarine eyes were peering up at him from behind the opposite end of the desk. Little else of his five-year-old son could be seen, simply because he was dwarfed by all of the equipment.

More grateful for an interruption from his work (and for some company) than angry at his son for carelessly wandering into the lab, Shou set down the item he was working on with a smile and wandered around to the other end of the desk.

Seeing as he was not about to be scolded (which he had been half-expecting), the fair-haired child brightened - something that started with the growing twinkle in his eyes and eventually expanded to a small but visible cat-like grin on his face.

"'Afternoon Papa!" the youngster chirped.

The father sighed, but returned the grin, "Afternoon, Ryou. But I wonder what's brought you in here..."

The boy's eyes widened suddenly and he hopped backwards quickly to show that he was well aware - the lab was dangerous, dangerous was bad, knocking on the door first was best.

"Sorry..." he mumbled, "But, question."

Ryou never seemed to _run out_ of questions, so this was little surprise.

Shou laughed good-naturedly, even though he was silently hoping that this would not be a very big question. He wasn't sure he could explain to his son where babies came from or why little boys and girls were different.

Pulling out his office chair, Shou settled into it, "Well then, let's hear it."

Not even waiting for an invitation, the child trailed over to where his dad was seated and hoisted himself up onto his knee - an odd choice for one who was afraid of Santa Claus and refused to sit on his lap.

"What's a wedding?" Ryou inquired. Needless, Jishou was a bit shocked. Had Ryou been old enough to actually get married, he was pretty sure some other feelings would have arisen at that moment along with the shock, but as he was not (and since he'd probably dislike the idea after learning what it was), he figured he had little to worry about.

The adult chuckled then, ruffling Ryou's hair.

"Well, I suppose I could tell you..." he murmured.

"Yes, please!" the boy prodded, his face shining eagerly. Ryou was always hungry for answers, no matter what they were.

"Alright, alright..." Shou was still smiling as he planned ways in his head to make the explanation interesting, to add effect, "Well, a wedding happens between two people when they decide they want to get married--"

"Mary...d?" Ryou was clearly confused and did not hesitate to create an interruption.

Shou tried to explain this better, "Two people are married when they love each other very much, and want to live together forever. So they have a wedding to show everyone this..."

Ryou was trying to process this, "For. Ev. Er?"

Shou laughed weakly, then offered Ryou a smile, "For a very long time, Ryou."

"I see," the child smiled, beginning to grasp this new knowledge, "So when two people like each other a lot they have a married and then get together with people and make a wedding!"

Shou couldn't help but chuckle, "Something like that, I suppose... does that answer your question?"

The child considered this, "Hey Papa, I love you a whole lot and I want us to be together... for a lon-- _forever_... so, does that mean we can get a wedding?"

"I would say yes, Ryou, but you're still too little for that..." Shou said weakly, though with obvious amusement.

His son's face fell, "But, Papa, that's not fair! I know I'm little, but one day I'll be bigger! So we can get a marriage then, right?"

"It might work Ryou, but I'm already married to your mother..." he explained, deciding he was getting in over his head, and now needed to be bailed out.

"Then get married to me too! When I'm big!"

"But you can only marry one person at a time..." Shou was indeed in deep water now.

"Trying to get rid of me? Are we, Shou?" Jishou wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not when he heard his wife's voice coming from the doorway. She had _that_ look on her face, the one she put on when she was not being very forgiving. Because of it, he had no idea how much of the conversation she had actually heard.

"Of course not, Liz," he replied sincerely.

"You sure?"

The child broke in with an explanation, "I'm trying to get Papa to marry me, but he says I'm too small, Mama."

"I think it's almost snack time, Ryou. Maybe we should let your Papa get back to his work," Liz suggested, moving a hand to hide her mouth as she giggled silently at her spouse's predicament.

"Okay," Ryou said, turning his attention back to his dad. He moved his shoulders in a giant shrug, pecking the adult briefly on the cheek before hopping down.

"I love you anyway, even if you won't marry me," he declared.

"I know you do, Ryou. I love you too." Watching to be sure his son had left the room, the adult sagged in his chair, rubbing his temples wearily with one hand.

Liz glided over to where he was, her skirt sweeping against her legs, "Another Ryou question?"

Jishou whistled softly, "I don't know if I'll be able to answer the next one, to be honest..."

Liz laughed lightly, stroking his arm as some sign of affection, "Met your match, have you?"

Shou grinned, the one that was his trademark, "Of course I haven't."

"I wonder where he heard about weddings..." Liz wondered aloud after a few seconds of silence.

Shou's grin faded to a somewhat serious expression, and he shook his head, "Who knows? I'm just hoping there won't be any more talk of Ryou getting married for a very long time..."

"The over-protective father," she mused.

"Maybe, maybe not..." he responded quietly, "I'm just not sure I could ever let him go."


	2. memory 02 when stars fall as snow

**P U R A C H I N A  
**_- p l a t i n u m -_

_This is a collection of one-shots focusing on Ryou Shirogane. Most of the stories take place before the accident. These have mostly been cross-posted from a roleplaying game which I originally wrote them for. All references to fan characters have been removed and edited out with the exceptions of family members. Credit is due to both Satouberri and Saica, as well as everyone else who participated in the game with me. If you have any ideas for future one-shots, just holler at me. I love writing Ryou and his parents. Absolute love._

Notes:

- From here on out, Professor Shirogane will be referred to as Jishou Shirogane. The character "ji" means "self" and the character "shou" means "victory".  
- From here on out, Mrs. Shirogane will be referred to as Elizabeth Shirogane. It's shortened often to Liz.  
- The honorifics -hakase and -kyoju mean "doctor" (one who has earned a doctorate in some field) and "professor".

These are not official names. They never had official names. These are simply the names we used in the game and I don't have the heart to change them. If you wish to adopt these same names, feel free to do so, just credit us.

* * *

memory 02.

New York City is a noisy place. The noise never stops, even at night. But when you drive into the outskirts of the city, the noise becomes muffled and dies away, and the smog fades and makes breathing much easier.

A young blond boy of no more than six years sat silently against the wall in the main hallway of the elementary school. His skinny arms were wrapped tightly around his legs as he awaited whatever fate was coming his way. The last few minutes continued to replay in his head - when his teacher and the principal told him to wait here while they called his father. Ryou Shirogane knew that if his father was going to get dragged into this, it must be something really horrible.

But the harder Ryou thought about what he could have done to deserve punishment, the less he understood the situation. So, he just continued to sit there and wait.

It wasn't long before Jishou Shirogane, Ryou's father, stepped onto the schoolgrounds. Like his son, he really couldn't understand what was going on, but was beginning to prepare himself for the worst. Ryou had never gotten in trouble at school before. He knew his son well enough to be sure he wouldn't cheat or steal. Ryou's grades were - in his opinion - excellent. Not that it mattered to him. So what could the problem be?

The adult's eyes soon fell on his child as he paused in front of the door to the principal's office. Jishou reached down to ruffle the blond's hair softly and sent him a smile of encouragement - for both of them, really - before disappearing into the room.

"Is there something wrong with Ryou...?" Jishou asked cautiously. The question itself stung a little in his mouth as he said it, but he waited patiently for the reply.

Ryou's teacher was tugging at the edges of her dress, looking either guilty or nervous - or perhaps both.

The principal adjusted his glasses, but quickly shook his head, "No, please sit down Mr. Shirogane."

Jishou did so.

"Mrs. Sands recently had her students take an I.Q. test as part of a study one of the local colleges is doing. And, actually, Ryou scored exceptionally well, so we had asked him if he'd take an additional test, and one more after that... ofcourse, the students' scores aren't shared with anyone outside of the schools..."

Shou nodded slowly, "I see... however, Ryou never mentioned anything about this... and I'm not sure I see the problem..."

The principal turned in his chair, "To put it bluntly, Mr. Shirogane, according to the test results, Ryou belongs in high school. His I.Q. is well above the genius mark. I wouldn't have believed it myself, had I not seen the test results. He's the best reader in his class... one of the few who **can** read. I don't think that anything I could say about it would do that boy justice."

Jishou sat there without saying anything.

"You should be proud..." Mrs. Sands added in meekly.

"I... was that already," came the father's reply.

"We wanted to ask for your permission to release Ryou's grades, or to at least move him up a few grades... put him in a special class...? That kid needs special attention, that's for sure. It'd be a shame for it all to go to waste."

"...I'll discuss this matter with my son, thank you..." Shou replied quietly as he stood.

"But..."

"This is something Ryou needs to decide for himself, don't you agree?"

"Well, yes... but-!"

"Have a good evening," Jishou gave a slight bow before finding himself once again standing in the hallway.

"Ryou...?"

The blond head turned up slowly, revealing somewhat fearful aquamarine eyes, "Am I in trouble?"

The father shook his head and held out a hand, "Let's go to the park, alright?"

The boy grabbed his father's outstretched hand and pulled himself to his feet, trailing along beside the adult like an extra arm - or maybe a leg.

"Aren't you going to tell me what all of that was about? I did something bad, didn't I...?" Ryou's questions could not stop. What was going on anyway? If he had done something bad, wasn't he going to be punished for it?

When silence continued, Ryou simply picked up his pace and focused his attention on the ground. _Yes_, he told himself, _you're going to get it bad..._

The sky above them changed into her autumn attire - flashy shades of burgandy, orange, and gold - as father and son made their way into a local park. Ryou could hear voices off in the distance, but he saw no one, and the only noises that he could trace were the leaves crunching under their feet, and a small friendly stream off to the right.

Ryou was glancing into the face of the water at his own reflection when Jishou suddenly stopped, causing the kindergartener to fall into the back of him.

Managing to catch his balance, the child muttered a weak "sorry" to Shou's inquiry of "are you alright?" as the prodigy rubbed his nose, insisting that he was okay.

A sigh passed from the adult's mouth. He wasn't sure how he should go about explaining this. He was sure that Ryou would indeed understand, but it might put weird thoughts in his head.

"Your teacher and the principal seem to think you did exceptionally well on the tests you took recently."

The blond blinked up at his father, "You mean, that's why they called you?"

Shou nodded, looking down into his son's eyes, "Yes, that's why."

The child's gaze shifted from his dad to the scenery, to the ground, to more scenery, "That can't be the only reason. Why would they need to call you for that? Couldn't they just send home a letter or something?"

Shaking his head, Shou ran his hand over the youngster's head, "To tell you the truth, Ryou, they think you belong in a higher grade."

Ryou made a face, "Why?"

The adult let out a long breath, glancing up at the sky for a moment, "According to the tests, you're what people call a genius. You're learning things faster than your classmates."

Ryou opened his mouth to say something, but the words didn't come out.

"I-- I wasn't trying to do anything! I just like reading a lot... and... I didn't know that I was too far ahead, honest!"

The adult shook his head urgently, placing his hands gently on the boy's shoulders, "No, no, Ryou. There's nothing wrong with it. It's actually a good thing. Or it can be... I just don't want to see you working too hard at it and forgetting who you are."

"Forgetting who I am...?"

Shou ruffled his son's hair, "Forgetting that you're only six years old."

Ryou tilted his head to the side, then laughed, "Don't be silly, Papa! How could I forget that? My birthday was just a few weeks ago, afterall."

The adult smiled, "Right. Sorry about that, Ryou."

Around them the sky was fading to dramatic shades of blue, and stars began to light themselves one by one across the sky.

"They're really pretty," Ryou commented, holding on to his father's hand as they continued through the park - a shortcut (or a long-cut) home.

"They are pretty. There's just something magical about the night sky, isn't there?"

The genius nodded his agreement, swinging his arms a bit. The night air felt good, and he was glad that he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Ya know, I always wondered what happened when too many stars got caught up in the sky..."

"Hmm?"

Ryou continued before Jishou could think up one of his famous stories, "Maybe it's when the sky gets so full of stars that it turns white. And when it turns all milky white... the stars start falling down to Earth as snowflakes. They do look a lot alike, don't they?"

Jishou simply smiled and nodded his head, "They do..."

"So they must be made out of the same thing," Ryou concluded, "And when New York's streets are all lined with them, the sky turns blue again and new stars can grow."

Before the father could speak, Jishou's thoughts were interrupted by the barkings of a dog who came dashing out of nowhere, eager to greet them.

"Daisuke!" Ryou called as the mutt leapt up at him to try to clean his face, "Silly, when did you get here?"

The adult just smiled and shook his head, letting it go. It didn't matter to him if Ryou was a prodigy or not - he would have been equally proud of him either way. After all, he was happy as long as Ryou was. He just didn't want to see his son grow up too fast and miss out on what it is to be a child.


	3. memory 03 cooking up trouble

**P U R A C H I N A  
**_- p l a t i n u m -_

_This is a collection of one-shots focusing on Ryou Shirogane. Most of the stories take place before the accident. These have mostly been cross-posted from a roleplaying game which I originally wrote them for. All references to fan characters have been removed and edited out with the exceptions of family members. Credit is due to both Satouberri and Saica, as well as everyone else who participated in the game with me. If you have any ideas for future one-shots, just holler at me. I love writing Ryou and his parents. Absolute love._

Notes:

- From here on out, Professor Shirogane will be referred to as Jishou Shirogane. The character "ji" means "self" and the character "shou" means "victory".  
- From here on out, Mrs. Shirogane will be referred to as Elizabeth Shirogane. It's shortened often to Liz.  
- The honorifics -hakase and -kyoju mean "doctor" (one who has earned a doctorate in some field) and "professor".

These are not official names. They never had official names. These are simply the names we used in the game and I don't have the heart to change them. If you wish to adopt these same names, feel free to do so, just credit us.

* * *

memory 03.

The class let out another groan. Mr. Davidson shook his head in aggravation and pointed a yardstick at them dangerously.

"Learning minimal cooking skills may one day prove essential to your existance - and essential to your grade," he explained in a scolding tone, "Especially if your name is Jishou Shirogane and your spaghetti almost sent me to the emergency room last week."

A few heads turned to look at the Japanese exchange student, whose usual cocky smile had disappeared and was replaced with a frown.

Elizabeth Beaumont was one such person, and perhaps she was focusing on watching him just a little too hard...

"Beaumont, why don't you be his cooking partner? I know you're doing well in this class," the teacher suggested. Although, one of Mr. Davidson's suggestions usually meant an order.

This was enough to make the blond girl snap out of her daze, "Eh?! But I..."

"Fine then, it's settled," the teacher announced, as he began to divide the rest of the class into pairs.

Yes, Jishou was a junior while Elizabeth was merely a freshman, but this class happened to combine specimens from each of the American highschool's four grades since students could pick whichever elective they wanted each year. Jishou had unfortunately been stuck in the only class with seats available, and it was fairly obvious why.

Elizabeth didn't have too much of a problem with the brunet, as he had only just moved to New York a few months ago, but she didn't speak a word of Japanese and his English was rather limited. Though, he had probably picked up quite a deal more since their first meeting. She couldn't be sure, since she hadn't really talked to him very much, mostly because she couldn't.

The girl reluctantly followed the other teenager across the room to an empty station, hunting around in one of the drawers for a pen and a notecard so that she could copy the recipe off the chalkboard.

"Good afternoon," Jishou finally spoke up. His English was a good deal smoother than before, but you could still tell that he didn't seem used to speaking it. He also restrained himself from bowing this time like he normally would have done.

"Good afternoon," she echoed him.

"We are to be cooking a cake today?" he asked, his speech awkward, and he obviously knew it.

Elizabeth gave a nod, smiling slightly, "Yes. We have to bake a chocolate cake."

The boy gave a nod, resorting to the use of his Japanese-English dictionary to decode what the scribbles on the board meant.

Elizabeth sighed involuntarily. This was going to be a very long class period.

"Look..." she suggested slowly, trying to enforce what she was saying with the use of hand motions, "why don't I measure out the ingredients and you can mix them?" Elizabeth didn't want to seem rude, but she really wanted to keep her grade in this class. It'd be really unfortunate for anyone to have to retake it.

Jishou sweatdropped, but nodded. If he was going to make a reply, he never got to it, because the blond was already digging around for bowls and measuring items, a spoon and a cake pan.

"I could help..." he stated somewhat nervously, "My English and cooking can be bad, but I am not fully un-useful..."

Liz blinked. Perhaps she was underestimating his ability to comprehend her and her language, and she was.

"_Useless_," she stated in a corrective tone, "Okay. I need you to fill four of these..." She handed him one of the measuring cups, "Four cups of flour." She indicated the bag with her finger, "and two sticks of butter. I will go get the cocoa from Mr. Davidson."

The Japanese boy nodded when she had finished speaking, watching as she disappeared among the groupings of other stations, then proceeded to follow through with the directions she had given him, having actually understood them.

Fifty minutes later, the two had finished their task with minimal problems, and Mr. Davidson stood before them, staring critically at the chocolate cake which had just come out of the school's oven.

"I have my doubts, but, it at least looks nicely prepared," Mr. Davidson stated, cutting himself off a slice of the cake, and stuffing the whole thing into his large mouth.

The man immediately choked and ran to the sink to spit it out. Elizabeth's face showed that she wasn't too happy. She whirled on her partner angrily, but his expression stopped her before she could yell at him.

"What did you do...?" she asked helplessly.

The boy's cocky smile had returned as he watched the teacher down three full glasses of water, "I forgot to add sugar."


	4. memory 04 christmastime in the city

**P U R A C H I N A  
**_- p l a t i n u m -_

_This is a collection of one-shots focusing on Ryou Shirogane. Most of the stories take place before the accident. These have mostly been cross-posted from a roleplaying game which I originally wrote them for. All references to fan characters have been removed and edited out with the exceptions of family members. Credit is due to both Satouberri and Saica, as well as everyone else who participated in the game with me. If you have any ideas for future one-shots, just holler at me. I love writing Ryou and his parents. Absolute love._

Notes:

- From here on out, Professor Shirogane will be referred to as Jishou Shirogane. The character "ji" means "self" and the character "shou" means "victory".  
- From here on out, Mrs. Shirogane will be referred to as Elizabeth Shirogane. It's shortened often to Liz.  
- The honorifics -hakase and -kyoju mean "doctor" (one who has earned a doctorate in some field) and "professor".

These are not official names. They never had official names. These are simply the names we used in the game and I don't have the heart to change them. If you wish to adopt these same names, feel free to do so, just credit us.

* * *

memory 04.

"I'll be back after I deliver these, Lizabie!"

"Okay, please be careful, Trent."

Elizabeth Beaumont sighed as she watched her cousin inch out of the front door with a vase full of roses, praying silently that he didn't slip on the ice. It had been snowing all afternoon and she was beginning to wonder if she wouldn't get stuck in the flower shop overnight at this rate. The road seemed treacherous and she had already dumped cat litter over the sidewalk twice. It was now slippery again.

Elizabeth found the store rather lonely without company. Most of the employees were busy with their own holiday celebrations and only she had volunteered to come in.

The blond teenager resisted the urge to switch the peaceful store music over to something more lively and plunked down on a stool behind the counter to wait until her cousin returned so they could leave. This, she knew, would take at least another hour.

Elizabeth watched people pass by the shop windows, having nothing better to do with her time. It didn't seem like there were going to be many in-store customers so late in the day. Children passed by with their parents, couples paused to kiss each other goodbye, others hurried by alone save for arms loaded with shopping bags. Most noticeable, however, was the large number of cars on the street, and the fact that they weren't moving. Perhaps the street had frozen up again.

Being somewhat distracted, Elizabeth almost missed the clanging of the bells on the door as her guest approached.

"Weather is very bad, yes?" the blond's head turned to note a certain Jishou Shirogane standing before her. Though his English was quite fractured, it did not detract from the cheerful smile on his face. Although, she noted, he did seem aware of this flaw, and somewhat embarassed by it.

"Yes. It's not too great. Can I help you with something?" she inquired, straightening in her seat.

The Japanese boy merely shook his head, resting his arm on the countertop and trying to look companionable, "I am surprised you are working."

"My grandfather's sick and a lot of the workers are going to see relatives out of state," she responded by way of explanation.

"I see. Sorry. They be gone for holidays?"

The blond girl nodded, "I'm not sure about in Japan, but for a lot of us here, Christmas is a pretty big deal."

Jishou looked confused, but then nodded, "Kurisumasu is in Japan. What its meaning is lost is."

Elizabeth blinked momentarily, translating internally, "It's lost here, too, cuz people worry about getting the best presents and having the most flashy decorations. They forget the day's humble beginnings. I think Christmas, well, most holidays really, should be spent with the family. Big stores are gonna ruin it for everyone."

Jishou was watching her with interest, trying his best to follow what she was saying with the addition of unfamiliar adjectives and improper English. She noticed, and stopped speaking abruptly.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Jishou laughed slightly and shook his head, "I understand."

"Oh, geez, no, not just for that, I mean..." the blond had to mentally force herself to stop while her company looked on.

"Sorry. You must miss your family," she finally managed a bit awkwardly.

"I do," he admitted, "But this is not so bad. My aunt and uncle have enough parties to keep things from getting boring. Although, I do terribly miss my parents and siblings."

Elizabeth blinked, realizing that his English seemed to be much better than it had been when he walked in a few moments ago. Maybe she had underestimated him.

"You're messing with me!" she accused.

"Messing with you?" Jishou raised an eyebrow.

"Your English," she clarified, frowning in dismay.

"Ah, that..." he said weakly, "Is still pretty much bad."

"Why didn't you tell me you understood it better?"

Jishou laughed nervously, "You did not ask? It's still quite bad." The truth of the matter may have been something else entirely, such as the fact that he didn't want to embarass himself too horribly by saying something stupid in front of Elizabeth. After all, he had made mistakes before, although he had managed to laugh those off. Elizabeth, though, seemed to take things a lot more seriously than the average person, so he didn't want to get too far ahead of himself.

"It's not that bad," she stated. This was news to him.

"My accent makes it somewhat difficult to understand, does it not?"

Frankly, Elizabeth found the accent somewhat charming, but she wasn't about to admit to that, so she didn't.

"Not too much."

"I shall try harder," he smiled pleasantly.

Elizabeth found herself smiling back without realizing it, "Um, so, do you and your family do anything during the holidays?"

Jishou grinned, "Yes. We have a..." And that's where he paused, trying to pronounce it in English, "Eku... ekusuchein..."

Elizabeth sweatdropped, "Extr..., uh, exchange?"

"Yes, exchange," he agreed, rubbing his brow, "We **exchange** presents and work together to make cookies and enjoy each's company."

"That sounds really nice."

The sound of bells clanging interrupted the discussion as Trent returned, covered in snow which he knocked off his boots at the door, "Hey Lizabie!"

"'Lizabie'?" Jishou looked to her.

"Uh, Jishou, this is my cousin Trent. He insists on calling me by that silly nickname," she explained hurriedly, feeling the need to clarify that he was a relative and not a boyfriend or anything of the like. It would take her a while to figure out just why the idea of Jishou thinking she was in a relationship with someone bothered her.

"Ah, I see. Hello."

"Yeah, hey!" Trent returned the greeting, "Hope Liz wasn't too much of a pain to deal with."

"Trent!" she protested.

"Sorry, I kid. Anyway, I'm ready to go when you are, Liz, but take your time. This traffic sure ain't going nowhere," Trent nodded his head at them and headed back out to light a cigarette.

Elizabeth sighed at this, muttering, "I told him to quit smoking..."

Jishou sweatdropped, "Should I leave?"

"Well, it'll take a few minutes for me to lock up anyway."

"Need some help?"

Elizabeth had already pushed in her stool and was in the process of locking up the register.

"Um, you can turn the lights off in the back," she suggested, indicating a set of switches with her finger.

He flicked them off with ease, taking the dim lighting now as a good enough omen to remove the small gift from his pocket.

"Thanks," she said from the front, turning off the display lights and locking the bolt in the door as Jishou made his way to the front of the store and joined her outside.

"Well, happy holidays I guess, and I'll see you around?"

"Happy holidays," he echoed, although this echo seemed much less a question. He extended a hand for what Elizabeth assumed must be a handshake. She reached for it, but he pulled it away in a practiced manner and placed the box in her palm instead.

"Merry Christmas, Elizabeth," he added, bowing his head ever so slightly, a grin still present on his face as he turned and paced back down the sidewalk from which he had come.

Liz stood there for a moment, bewildered, but then tossed her stubborness aside and called after him.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Is he a friend of yours?" asked Trent as he leaned out the driver's window of the black pickup truck which was parked about a yard off.

Elizabeth turned to him after Jishou has disappeared and climbed into the passenger side, careful not to crush the item she had just been given, "Yeah. I believe I'd call him a friend."


End file.
